home Uncategorized ICANN Asks U.S. Federal Trade Commission Whether .SUCKS Violates Any Laws

ICANN Asks U.S. Federal Trade Commission Whether .SUCKS Violates Any Laws

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By CircleID Reporter

Allen Grogan, ICANN’s Chief Contract Compliance Officer, has written a blog post today concerning a formal letter it has received asking the agency to halt the rollout of .SUCKS, a new gTLD operated by Vox Populi Registry Inc. The complaint letter received by ICANN describes the proposed business practices and actions of Vox Populi “illicit” and “predatory, exploitive and coercive.” As it stands, a ruling against Vox Populi by ICANN could result in federal prosecution or other legal action, according to ICANN officials.

Grogan writes: “Due to the serious nature of the allegations, we have sent letters to both the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and, because Vox Populi is a Canadian enterprise, Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) asking them to consider assessing and determining whether or not Vox Populi is violating any of the laws or regulations those agencies enforce.”

If deemed illegal, ICANN can change these practices through its contractual relationship with the registry. Akram Atallah, the president of ICANN’s global domains division, told the Washington Post that ICANN is not looking to regulate the Internet more heavily, nor to crack down on Vox Populi — unless the federal government finds the company violated the law with its behavior. Read more

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James Barnley

I’m the editor of the DomainingAfrica. I write about internet and social media, focusing mainly on Domains. As a subscriber to my newsletter, you’ll get a lot of information on Domain Issues, ICANN, new gtld’s, Mobile technology and social media.